Plumbing help needed bad!

[bues0022]

I started a thread here: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1228638

but thought I could get more exposure here. I need some serious help with my overflow. It's loud! All the details about it are in the above thread. One thought....if I replaced all the hard PVC with flexible vinyl tubing, would that make a really big difference or not? It'd be a bit expensive, but I'm at wits-end with this!

Thanks for the suggestions!

 

[illal]

PVC is the right way to do it/ flex is the lazy way to do it

 

[bues0022]

ok, well I have that part, now how do I quiet the thing down?

 

[saltwater4life1]

I'm dealing with the same probblem... I was told spa flex helps with the noise since it slowly turns instead of all the 90's and 45's that you deal with

 

[bues0022]

how do you have the water entering the sump? above or below water line? If I put my tubing below water line, it gurgles. If I put it above water line, I hear lots of noise from echoing in the tubing. UGGGGG

 

[saltwater4life1]

my exit is under the water

 

[bues0022]

do you have any gurgling problems? How do I get rid of the gurgle?

 

[benjabba]

Try using a filter sock. Have the drain line run right into it. Just make sure you clean the sock a few times a week.

 

[liquidlunch]

try to have the exit into the sump an inch or so above the water. right now, you're belching under water and then trying to breathe over and over. that worked for me along w/ adding some live rock to settle things down before the water enters the skimmer

 

[Roy G. Biv]

I try to get the water to exit right at the water level. So there is neither splash nor gurgle.

 

[bues0022]

If you look at the link up top, there's more about it. This afternoon I drilled a small hole in the tube going down to the water. This helped a little with the flushing, but it still gurgles. It's as if the water going down the tube echos inside it (tube volume is not totally taken up by the water). When I pulled the tube up to have it exit at water level, it was even louder. I'm puzzled....

 

[cplev]

I have hard pvc all the way down to the sump. I put a 90 on the end of the pvc right below the water line. I do get bubbles but they don't build into a belch. I also don't have any splashing since the water is entering the sump at parallel to the waterline.

 

[MarkGP]

Do a search for reverse durso....it should solve a lot of your problems. You might want to mess around with the size of the air hole at the top by placing a piece of airline in it with an air valve. Try different adjustmenst and see if it gets more quiet with less or more air!

 

[Playa-1]

How much flow do you have going through your sump?

 

[bues0022]

about 600 gph total. There is around 400 gph flow through the gurgling tube.

 

[Playa-1]

Have you tried to slow the flow down by restricting your return pump volume. Most people recommend starting with 3 to 5 times tank volume through the sump. It sounds like you running 10X plus. I don't think there is anything wrong with running high volume through the sump except when its causing micro bubbles, drain noise, or poor skimming performance.

 

[dela]

Is your drain vented? I have all soft drains on my tank. When I've tried hard plumbed returns, the water echoes in the pipes and is much louder.

Right now I'm using shop vac hose. The corrugation makes it louder than regular hose, but also more flexible... (and it's cheap!)

Can you throttle your return pump up and down. Start real slow and see how much flow it takes before it gets too noisy.

Physically, I find that having a PVC pipe with slits cut every 1/2 inch or so (starting 1" above the water line) is a good way to plumb the actual sump inlet point. Kind of like how most of the commercial units are built.

 

[bues0022]

I have two tanks plumbed together, a 30ga and a 58 ga. That's just about 90 gallons of display volume. That means my sump is getting just under 7x. My return pump is feeding return for both the 58 and the 30. It's a Quiet One 4000HH pump, and it's probably putting out around 600 GPH total. Of that, I've tried giving 90% back to the 58, and the return from the 30 is still really loud. I'm to the point right now of maybe switching everything to flexhose. Dela, that's exactly what's happening to me! The water is echoing in the pipe. My wife didn't seem to mind the water sound, she didn't like the pump hum. Me on the other hand, I don't mind the constant hum, but can't stand the water noise!

 

[bues0022]

I forgot to mention, last night I cut the hose going into the sump off. I then put in a 90 degree elbow making the water exit parallel to the surface, right at the surface. It helped a bit, but after a little bit it still flushes, gurgles, and burps. Not as much, but still not silent like I want it to be.

 

[Playa-1]

Well good luck. It will be interesting to see what finally solves the problem. It seems like lots of people have issues with drain noise.